Pineapple Blossoms
by the elsinatr
Summary: What do you do when you find a girl who's wallclimbing the side of your apartment? Shikamaru is about to find out.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Summary: What do you do when you find a girl who's wallclimbing the side of your apartment? Shikamaru is about to find out.

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**Pineapple Blossoms**

**Prologue**

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Hurried footsteps made echoed in the pattering rain, where a pair of small feet in high-heels were running over potholes and pools of trickling water. The distant clap of thunder only made the feet move faster, as if the owner was fleeing from a pack of hounds. The victim was nearly sprinting down an old alleyway, in an obvious attempt to create a reasonable amount of distance from the attacker, who was slowly catching up. A bolt of lightning illuminated the road, and a startled heart-shaped face with long, black hair had an unmistakeable expression: fear.

She was frantic, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up with her. _It wasn't always like this_, she consoled herself. _I'll find a better life._ And yet, as she ran past pawnshops and peepshows, she had to wonder if this was how her life was going to end up. A police car whizzed by, red lights flashing, and she started screaming for help. But it was useless, since it was quite obvious that the car was speeding, catching an elusive driver. Clutching a stitch in her side, she continued on.

"Come back here!" roared a masculine voice. She shrieked, and sprinted as fast as she could down another alleyway. She knew that if he caught up with her, it was game over, and she'd fall into the pit of misery once more. She tripped, and kept on running, even though her fall had caused her a great injury. Blood was trickling down her leg, and she prayed to God that he'd help her just this once.

Who knew that a smart, talented high-school girl would end up in this type of situation? But she knew it was useless to ponder on the past. In the haze of the rain, another bolt of lightning aided her by shining a light on the one thing that would help her out of this. It was a ladder attached to an apartment building, common for architects to make in the '50s.

"Hey!" She spun around. Her attacker was just three metres away, holding a knife. "Don't make me do this, girlie!" he said, purring seductively. She shuddered, recalling how old this guy was. He merely gave her an incentive to climb the ladder.

Taking off her heels, she flung them at the man, who swatteed them away as if they were flies. He started running towards her. She squealed in fright, and started climbing the ladder as fast as she could. "Oh no you don't!" he said maliciously, and she could see that he was gaining on her. So she did the only thing she remembered in self defense class: she kicked his head and he fell down, hitting the pavement with a dull clunking noise.

She stayed there, quite still, knowing full well in her heart that the man was only unconscious. It was as if the rainclouds changed temperature. Warm rain was hitting her like pellets, and she felt so relieved, so ... empowered.

"HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING??" She yelped as though scalded, and turned to look for the speaker. "Your butt's in my face." said a bored voice.

It was a boy her age who was looking up at her from the apartment she was currently 'wallclimbing' on. He had his hair in a spiky ponytail, he had dark-rimmed glasses on, and a cigarette was leisurely dangling from his mouth. At that moment, he looked amused. His head was poking out of his apartment window.

Taking off his glasses he said, "You're gonna catch a cold, miss." The girl stared. He wasn't like other guys she had seen in her life. Behind that bored look was something else ... confusion, perhaps?

"Hello? Do you hear me?" A hand was moving back and forth in her face. She gave a startled cry, clutching the rim of the ladder. He chuckled humorlessly. "Well, I might as well be a gentleman, even though I'm talking to a mute girl who just happened to land on the side of my apartment ... one of these days my shrink's gonna go crazy ..." He started walking away from the window.

"I-I-I'm ... n-not mute ... my n-name ... is Hinata ... Hyuuga ..." she spoke, barely more than a whisper.

The boy turned around as soon as she stopped speaking. "Umm, yeah ... sorry. My name is Shikamaru Nara." He held out a hand for her, opening the window a little more.

Hinata looked around the apartment. It was cozy and comfortable, all except for the lingering smell of tobacco and sake. She knew that she shouldn't even be in this house, that it could turn out badly, and that the guy called Shikamaru could easily take advantage of her.

And yet...

She felt safe here. It was a hard feeling to describe. The dark mahogany walls looked so comforting and open, that and the welcoming smell of lobster pasta that was billowing from the kitchen. "Sh-Sh-Shikamaru-s-san ... um ..." He quietly burst through from the kitchen, eyeing her carefully.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" he asked. Hinata looked down at her feet. " ... do you ha-have ... - achoo! - ... spare c-c-clothes?" She was startled when Shikamaru slapped his hand to his forehead. "I forgot it was raining!" he exclaimed. "Wait here, Hinata-chan!"

Finally he came back with fresh clothes, and handed them wordlessly to Hinata. "I'm not sure if they fit you, but it'll do." He smiled genuinely at her, and she looked at him wide-eyed, fearful. She disappeared into his washroom. Her facial expression made him frown, and he wondered what happened to her to make her act like that.

"Oh well. I'm only keeping her here till tomorrow. It's not like I'll be seeing much of her after this." he said to himself.

Little did he know how dreadfully wrong he was.

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REVIEW!


	2. Troublesome Newcomers

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

A/N.: Trust me folks. All will be revealed in due time (cough nextchapter cough)

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Pineapple Blossoms

**Chapter 1: Troublesome Newcomers**

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Shikamaru woke up to the beautiful smell of pancakes in his apartment. Stumbling out of his bed, he traipsed into the kitchen, yawning widely.

"Hello, Shikamaru-san!" Hinata exclaimed brightly. Shikamaru gave a startled cry, almost forgetting the events of last night. "Did I scare you?" she asked, her pale eyes wide.

"No, it's fine. I'm just not used to loud noises in the morning. It's too troublesome." he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I j-just wanted t-to help. I-I feel l-like I just in-intruded..." she trailed off, waving a wooden spoon around. Shikamaru snickered as trails of pancake mix flew from the spoon, landing on his messy countertops. "S-sorry!" she let out a terrified squeak and started scrubbing the parts she made a mess of.

The alarm clock in his room started beeping, and both of them gave a start. "Oh shit! I'm late for my new course!" yelped Shikamaru, running into his bedroom.

"B-but, Shikam-maru-san, the pancakes..." Hinata protested, but a spiky blur disappeared out of the condo.

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"Oi, Pineapple man, you're late!" Temari said reprovingly. Shikamaru's ponytail was sticking out in an odd direction, and several strands came out. He re-tied it and plunged into the seat next to Temari, who gave him a look of scorn. It was the second week of a new school year at his new high school, Konoha High. He and Temari went to the same elementary school, and even though they were childhood friends, he was beginning to get sick of her.

Sabaku no Temari was the only child in a family of five, including her parents. She had lived in a part of town not that far away from Konoha, named Suna, and her brothers Kankuro and Gaara were known to be rash and violent. A year ago Shikamaru heard a rumor that Gaara got busted for possession of crack, but he didn't really believe it until Temari told him. After that incident, she mostly kept to herself. The detention facility in Suna was going to release Gaara in a few days, and she had finally convinced her parents to let her stay with her uncle Yashamaru. She made up dozens of excuses, not all of them true, and it was only because, even though she was the oldest, she was still a bit afraid of Gaara. Despite his parole officer saying about how he's changed, she still couldn't trust him.

But Shikamaru was in a totally different situation than Temari. He had a lot of problems at his home in Kiri. His mother Yoshi was a very demanding lady who was the total opposite of Shikamaru. Finally, in an act of frustration, she had kicked his lazy butt out of the house, telling him to grow up. His father, Shikaku was a very prominent businessman, who had the same lazy attitude as Shikamaru, so he sympathized with him, and bought him his apartment.

At that particular moment, Temari was shooting ugly glances at Shikamaru. _So much for being your only friend, Temari-chan,_ Shikamaru thought. He started to sleep on his desk.

Their teacher, Hatake Kakashi was late as usual. They all groaned upon seeing him, as they knew his reputation. The year before, he was caught having an affair with Haruno Sakura, who was a first-year student. It wasn't against any rules, but it was still gross. Sakura was still in the school, and she was starting her second year at Konoha High.

"Sorry about being late, class. On my way here, I saw this wrinkly old lady struggling with her groceries, and who was I to let a poor little old woman struggle..." Temari rolled her eyes and tuned his excuse out. Shikamaru started snoring.

A quiet knocking sound interrupted Kakashi. Frowning, he opened the door. "Ah, this must be our new student, Hinata Hyuuga." As quick as a gush of water, everyone was talking.

"Hyuuga? Did I hear correctly?"

"Yes!"

"Isn't she part of the Hyuuga corp.?"

"Awe, so cute!!!"

Temari, who had been tuning out Kakashi, looked at the newcomer. _It can't be..._ "HINATA!!!"

An odd blonde spiky-haired ball of energy engulfed the spluttering girl as she was crushed under the weight of Temari. "Whozair?" yawned Shikamaru.

_Hinata?_

Shikamaru knew that she was the same age as him, but never in his wildest dreams had he thought that she was attending this school. Of all schools, Konoha High was the one she attended. He groaned inwardly. Temari grabbed Hinata by the arm and pushed her up the stairs of the auditorium-like classroom (please refer to the classroom in the anime). The poor girl was put into a vacant seat next to a moody Shikamaru. "Shikamaru-san?" Hinata said quietly.

Temari looked at the two of them in wonder. "Hey, Pineapple-brain. How come you never told me 'bout Hinata, huh?" Shikamaru's head disappeared once more under the crook of his arm. Hinata turned red, and muttered incoherent words. Temari rolled her eyes again, and sat next to Hinata.

"So, how's everything in the Hyuuga residence?" she asked conversationally. Hinata paled. "There's this new guy my father's working for, and to tell you the truth, he's kind of ... creepy." she shuddered as she confessed to Temari. Her friend rubbed her shoulder consolingly.

"Hey!" Kakashi yelled, bringing everyone's attention back to the front. "We're starting a new unit for health class folks, so you know what that means." The class shuddered violently all at once. Kakashi smirked under his mask. He then got out his revolving chair and grabbed his orange book, and sighed contentedly.

This was going to be a very interesting year, in any case.


	3. Why Him?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

A/N.: I'm so happy you guys like this story! To be truthful, I thought that no one was going to like it, but I have plans for this story, like all the other stories I write about.

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Pineapple Blossoms

**Chapter 2 : Why Him?**

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Shikamaru groaned for a fifth time since entering this classroom. It was only the first block, but it was beginning to be even more troublesome than he had ever imagined. He was beginning to regret not skipping school today, as he usually felt whenever he entered this classroom.

Kakashi was writing the three dreaded words in history: sex ed class.

He could almost see the faces of his friends in Kiri now. If they heard about this, they'd never let him live it down.

To be taught sex by Kakashi-sensei was just about as enjoyable as sticking your foot in a toiletbowl after you've _done your business_, and flushing the remains, making all the grossness of it get stuck in between your toes.

Shikamaru sighed and put his face in his hands. Beside him, Temari was giggling uncontrollably. Hinata had turned a bright shade of scarlet. _So troublesome_...The notorious pineapple-head groaned once again, and lifted his head up to look at his fellow classmates. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The people in the front looked as though they were petrified.

Behind him he could hear the sounds of laughter coming from the two pranksters of his class; Kiba and Naruto.

Neji and Sasuke, the two class prodigies looked as though they were going to puke.

A giggle of raucous laughter reached his ears, too close for his comfort. He scanned the room for the intruding noise, and sure enough, Temari was busy talking with Sakura and Ino, each of them sporting huge blushes on their cheeks. Resisting the urge to vomit, Shikamaru put a lazy hand up.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Everyone turned to look at him. "Why..._why are we doing this?_"

Kakashi grinned underneath his mask. He slowly turned to look at the lazy genius. "Because, Shikamaru, since you're so _studious,_ I thought it'd be nice if we ...- well, how should I put it? - ..._get this over with._"

The whole class erupted in laughter and Shikamaru felt his ears turn red. "Che. Wake me up when it's over," he slumped forward, "this is so troublesome."

And with that, he put his head on the desk.

Hinata, who had been trying hard not to show her blush (and failing miserably), saw him fall onto his arms on the table. "Temari-chan?" she hissed, pointing at the now unconscious Shikamaru, "does he... does he do that all the time?"

Temari let out a great big snort, which made half the class look at her. "Trust me Hinata. Shikamaru is the _epitome_ of laziness."

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"Shikamaru-san?" Hinata poked the lazy teen on his pineapple head cautiously. She took a break from prodding him awake and looked at the clock. Shikamaru had been out for at least thirty minutes, not giving a care in the world what had happened in class. It wasn't that she didn't side with him on this one, but she thought that if Shikamaru had at least known it was a school night, he would have at least taken the time to go to bed early.

Finally giving up, she positioned herself to the front once again and looked at the board...what the hell was Kakashi-sensei _doing_?

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Temari snorted, shaking her head. She was looking at the board, watching as Kakashi drew little stick figures with anatomically correct bodies. Didn't he at least have the decency to draw a little better? If he continued, Temari was sure that most of the students in her class would be more than disgusted at the idea of sex.

Pushing masked teachers with horrible drawing skills aside, she looked at her old friend, Hinata. She sure had changed from the shy, quiet little girl back in grade school. She was less introvert, starting up conversations with the last people Temari expected her to talk to; Ino and Sakura. Well, she could deal with Hinata being friends with Sakura, when the pink-haired girl was in a decent mood and she wasn't constantly gushing over magazine photos. But Ino...

It wasn't that Temari had a grudge on Ino, per se. But everything about Ino was just the opposite of her, and it was absolutely horrifying to be around an archetype of your girlie side. Ever since she could remember, she had always pushed down that side of her to the point of foolishness. It's no wonder that she got along with that Tenten tomboy, who happened to be in the same science class as her; chemistry. Lab experiments and a devious teenager do not mix. Half the time, Tenten and Temari would get yelled at by Iruka-sensei, or manage to burn his eyebrows to oblivion.

Needless to say, Temari was a brilliant student, coming second in her grade only to Emo King (not that hard to figure out who THAT is). He was then followed by the Hyuuga prick. Shikamaru was second-last and, to her that was highly amusing. What he lacked in motivation he made up for in genius IQ.

She leaned over and sure enough, the lazy genius' pineapple head was currently tucked under one arm. Temari couldn't even begin to count the number of times she'd seen him in that position, especially in a classroom environment. In fact, it wouldn't be a normal _day_ without seeing Shikamaru sleeping in class!

All of a sudden the annoying chime of the bell signaled the end of the first block. Temari looked over her shoulder as she put the strap of her bag on it and saw that her sensei was all but happy. Which teacher wouldn't give up the prospect of not being able to torture his students even further? Perhaps he should change tactics for the next lesson, because it looked like no one was listening in the first place, with the exception of Sakura. Temari felt sorry for the girl.

For as long as the blond could remember, Haruno Sakura had had a lot of boyfriends. Unfortunately, _all_ of them were the type no decent parent would let their children date. Guess how many of them were heartbreakers? It was pitiful, really. The pinkie was such a dear, everyone was enchanted by her. Well, there was one thing Sakura could rely on; if Kakashi-sensei broke up with her lamely, she would at least have a shoulder to lean on.

Thankfully, Kakashi-sensei was rumoured to never have been this close to anyone before Sakura, other than the occasional blond here and there. To Temari, this meant that at least Kakashi-sensei would stay a prominent figure in Sakura's life for at least a few years. It also helped that Kakashi was a decent man, _Icha Icha_ Books aside.

"Temari-chan?" Temari looked at the person who said her name. It was Hinata, and she looked really nervous. "Can you wake Shikamaru-san up?" This question made Temari snigger. Oh, she could wake Shikamaru up all right! Temari leaned down close to the dark brown ponytail and mercilessly tugged at it, screeching, "Wake up darling!"

Hinata looked shocked, Temari noted as she stood back up. It was amusing; although Hinata was much more confident, she could be too gentle and soft at times.

A grumpy voice startled the girls. "Ah, fuck you, Temari." Shikamaru looked disheveled and bad-tempered.

Temari grinned, pointing her finger at him. "Now now, not in front of the children, _darling._" she cooed, making the tips of Shikamaru's ears burn. She knew he hated when she called him that.

Much to her surprise, he just raised an eyebrow. "I think Hinata is _hardly_ a child," he frowned disappovingly.

Oh, he could be such a party pooper! "C'mon, Hinata-chan, let's go to Science!" Temari said, taking Hinata's arm and dragging her along with her. A slight tug on Temari's sleeve made her look at the petite girl.

"Sorry, Temari-chan, I have Art next," she said quietly, an apology written all over her face. "Do you know where it is?" Temari opened her mouth to speak, but was halted by someone's voice.

"I can get you there, Hinata-san," Shikamaru said lazily, "I have Art next too."

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The corridors were long and winding in Hinata's eyes. Hallways that should have been straight and large, were rather windy and narrow. But that was to be expected for a very interesting-looking school.

The first thing that came into Hinata's mind when she first saw the outside of the building was that it was abstract in every sense of the word.

"Hinata?" The black-haired girl jumped and looked sideways at the boy walking beside her, "Will you be coming back to my place, or will you go back to your house?" Shikamaru asked gently.

"S-sorry Shikamaru-san," Hinata answered just as quietly. "I'll b-be fine at my house. It was j-just that one t-time."

"Oh," Shikamaru said, putting his hands behind his back. "So what did happen that time, if you don't mind me asking?"

Hinata froze and looked at Shikamaru. Should she tell him? She studied the pineapple head cautiously. He looked almost lackadaisical, with a permanent bored look on his face. She knew that if she told him, that expression on his face would soon be rubbed off by fear.

"Will you tell anyone?" Shikamaru stared. She stared right back.

Shikamaru gave a harsh laugh, breaking eye-contact with her. "Who would I tell? I think I'd give a heart-attack just talking to someone other than Temari!"

"Y-you don't talk a l-lot, do y-you?"

"Sorry, no. I don't prefer to gossip, or to talk about the latest game on Saturday night." Shikamaru gave her a lopsided grin.

She smiled shyly back. "Ok, you b-better sit d-down for this, Sh-Shikamaru-san." One lazy eyebrow slowly raised itself up. Hinata giggled quietly.

"Sorry," she apologized, looking at the corridor they were in, "I g-guess there's nowhere t-to sit."

"Well, Hinata-san," Shikamaru said slyly, "We're not exactly in a park, you know."

"Oh, sorry." Hinata said sheepishly, blushing faintly. "Shikamaru-san, I-I think I sh-should tell y-you this at a m-more convenient t-time..."

"What better time than now?"

They had reached the Art room, sadly. Shikamaru stared at the door, looking shocked that they managed to get there so quickly. Hinata giggled nervously. "I ... I guess I'll h-have to tell y-you another t-time, Shikamaru-san." She opened the door.

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The art room was in a dilapidated state due to the two months of vacation. The amount of dust on the tables was absurd. "Surely they don't get this dusty?" A red-headed boy said bitterly, wiping a finger on one of the tables.

The red-head was Akasuna no Sasori, a third-year student. It was his last year at the school and to put it mildly, he was beginning to be sick of the place. He was an average student, doing well only in the art class. In fact, the art teacher, Jiraiya-sensei, made him the unofficial assistant teacher of the art class, and not because of the favoritism.

The thing he most specialized in was sculpting. The chisel and a block of wood or clay were his best friends, ever since he could remember. His childhood friend Deidara often said he was possessed while he created his 'art'.

It was odd, how the two had met. Sasori's parents knew that the precocious three-year old had a thing for the fine arts, and as a treat for his birthday, they had brought him to an exhibit at the National Art Center (this is an actual place, no it didn't happen, just read). Deidara had been there with his parents as well. The encounter was all but pleasant. An angry artist was furious that one of his paintings didn't enter the exhibit. He had walked inside the building with a bomb strapped into him, shouting out that he'd rather, "die than have his precious art destroyed by critics...". It was clear the man was already crazed in the head.

The only thing Sasori remembered was a flash of blinding light. He then found himself waking up in the rubble, miraculously unhurt. Deidara however, got a projectile to his left eye. He had almost lost his eyesight, had Sasori not been right beside him at the time. The red-head found the blond lying right beside him, along with an adult, who turned out to be Jiraiya-sensei. He also was unhurt, and he had carried the two boys out of the wreckage. The whole scene made headline news.

Now, Sasori and Deidara were the 'unofficial' children of the perverted author. Naruto was his grandson, who also got orphaned in the explosion. The three of them lived in a relatively small house in one of Tokyo's special wards, ironically named Minato. It was Jiraiya who named Naruto's father after the ward, and not the other way around, like the late Minato would usually say at cocktail parties.

"How's it going, un?" Sasori groaned. He knew it was Deidara without even moving from his spot. "What do you want, Deidara, huh?" Deidara's speech impediment, or funny way of talking was beginning to irritate him.

"Awe, I just wanted to say hi to my favorite brother, yeah!" _3,2,1..._

"GODDAMNIT I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Sasori was seeing red as he turned around to knock Deidara into the last century. Sadly, he missed and ended up flying into the front door of the classroom, where people were already filing in from.

Or, more precisely, ended up flying into a small girl's lap.

"Ooh, look! Aniki's finally getting some loving! At least we all know now he's not a-" But whatever Sasori was, no one found out, because in a flash, Sasori was throttling his adopted brother.

Unfortunately, Sasori's dea art teacher chose at that moment to come in, making his dire threats to Deidara useless. "Stop it, you two, or I'll force Naruto on you," made them stop. Literally. They knew first-hand how annoying and sly Naruto could be. Casing point: They unfortunately live with him.

The girl who got caught in the middle of things stood up, rubbing her back. Sasori looked at her, and almost stopped breathing.

This, was art.

Her navy-black hair fell at her sides, her eyes and skin pale. She had a fairy-like body, and a delicate complexion that would rival anything Ino could ever try to get. Small, invisible dimples on either side of her mouth complimented her face. It was as if a goddess had suddenly appeared in the art room.

Sasori was shell-shocked. No one in the whole entire _school_ was as beautiful as this girl. Come to think of it, nothing in the whole WORLD was as beautiful as her!

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Shikamaru saw it all. "-sigh-...so troublesome..." He helped Hinata to her feet. She looked at quizzically. "What's tr-troublesome?" Shikamaru looked from her to the star-strucked red-head sitting on the art room floor, dazed out of his mind.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." he mumbled quietly.

Now it seemed that block two would be even more troublesome. Why of all people? Why did Akasuna no Sasori have to fall in love with _her_?

Why him?

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A/N.: You know what to do! Keep reviewing! I think I'll switch my poll to something else....kukuku (if you know what the poll will be, then good job, you have an IQ of a lazy genius.)


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